(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article for and method of manufacturing an automobile door pull.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
It is known to fabricate automobile door pulls by forming a metal strap, cutting an appropriately shaped covering material and then sewing the covering material over the metal strap. The number of fabricating steps and the complexity of each fabricating step make this a particularly expensive fabrication technique. This expense is particularly disadvantageous because it must be multiplied by the number of door pulls used in an automobile and by the number of automobiles using the door pulls. Clearly, even a relatively small expense per unit can become a rather substantial expense to the automobile manufacturer.
The prior art also teaches injection molding of a plastic material over a metal strap. A door pull so fabricated has a characteristically hard feel. Typically, an automobile purchaser or user, particularly of a high priced car, can be expected to react adversely to such a hard feel. Such a hard feel can evoke images of cost cutting and is particularly undesirable in a relatively expensive item such as an automobile which attempts to provide an ambience of comfort and security. The fabrication process itself can have problems which include the time consuming process of correctly positioning a metal strap in a mold. If the metal strap is out of place in the mold a defective part may result because of protruding metal from the finished part. Scrapping such parts results in raising the cost of producing usable automobile door pulls.